Columns

Night Out

By Alvin Koo

To tell you the truth, I had thought when it first opened that it was just another hotel dining room – though themed – and I didn’t go to see it right away. Tiki’s Grill and Bar is located in the newly remodeled, renovated and re-themed Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel.

The hotel features beaded curtains with a hula girl drawn on them, bright Polynesian themed colors, and a look that says… remember?

Remember when Waikiki was quieter and a strip of beach where the movie stars and rich and famous played, where beachboys surfed on huge red wood then balsa boards, where hamburgers were char grilled for a dollar. Remember?

That’s what the new Aston Waikiki Beach is all about. And to a large extent, that’s what Tiki’s is all about too.

Except…

Tiki’s is a private restaurant.

It’s not one of them cookie cutter hotel jobs.

It is the brainchild of three former UH fraternity brothers, all with restaurant experience and one chef. The sttory is that the three made a pact at the UH that they would own a restaurant together. Then they went their separate ways.

CEO and head bottle washer Bill Tobin joined Kiewit Pacific Company, the international construction contractor, where he learned the details of cost accounting. A former US Army veteran, Tobin was drawn back to Hawaii. He had worked for Moose McGillicuddy's and the Hard Rock Café while in college, so he got a job at the Lahaina Hard Rock. After helping turn that around, he became general manager at Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch, and Crab in Honolulu.

Remember Kelly McGill? He was an offensive lineman with the champion 1992 Holiday Bowl Rainbow team. A Travel Industry Management (TIM) school graduate, he moved to Vietnam and developed a restaurant-bar in Ho Chi Minh City. McGill has also worked for Hajji Babas and several other Honolulu nightspots. He is CFO of the new restaurant.

Greg Montgomery, another TIM graduate, is the last of the fraternity brothers. His credits include Monterey Bay Cannery, Sunset Grill, Morton’s of Chicago, The Steakhouse, Canoe’s at the Illikai and Duke’s Canoe Club. He also owned and operated a lunch wagon and catering business from 1995 to 1998. He is the on-location manager.

The last partner is Fred DeAngelo who was executive chef at Palimino’s in Honolulu. Under his direction, Palomino was named “Top Oahu Restaurant” by Honolulu magazine’s Hale Aina Awards for 1999, 2000 and 2001 and one of “America’s Top Restaurants” by the prestigious Zagat Survey.

The results of the partners is impressive.

Tiki’s is a full-on retro South Pacific bar. You remember. Hollywood kept confusing Honolulu with the South Pacific. It was all the same to them.

Tiki’s has palm wood flooring, fish nets hanging from the ceiling with starfish and shells, glass balls, plus 50 hand-carved masks, statues and war clubs from different regions around the Pacific.

Original framed art flanks the dining room walls. The kitchen is open to view. The collection of authentic, hand-carved tiki includes two 8-1/2 foot tiki at the entrance, eight tiki on the back walls of the dining room, a 3-1/2 foot tiki head named “Hibiscus Tiki” in the bar area, and a 6-1/2 foot, one-of-a-kind hula tiki in the central dining area.

The best seats in the house are those at umbrella-covered tables on the lanai, where diners are treated to the mesmerizing view of Waikiki Beach. The Diamond Head section of the dining room can be partitioned for diners who want to host an 80-seat private party.

And the food is interesting.

We had a braised short rib, maybe a third of a pound of meating falling tenderly off a bone flavored with a brown gravy that suited my taste just fine. My dining companion had a daily special, which was a first for the restaurant that day, a Hawaiian style beef stew. I can’t help it, I like that kind of food.

For fuh-fuh people, Tiki’s offers things like Calamari Katsu, a panko-crusted calamari steak cut pupu-style and served with fried capers in a lemon grass caper beurre blanc sauce; Oysters a la Tiki, fresh oysters with a fresh crab crust, topped with a lobster hollandaise sauce; or the Chef’s Signature King Salmon glazed with special seasonings and caramelized cane sugar and served with a lemon grass beurre blanc sauce.

For your sweet tooth, try Lilikoi Cheesecake enwrapped in white chocolate with caramelized basil leaf topped with oven-dried pineapple, a sweet basil syrup and lemon sauce; or Oh-so Chocolatey Cake with a liquid chocolate center, adorned with a red wine jelly infused with vanilla and cinnamon and highlighted with crème anglaise chambord.

Tiki’s also is trying to become a Hawaiian music hotspot. They like to think of themselves as “hip” and hope to become known as a break-out spot for local bands.

Music is twice a night. A sunset portion from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and a late night portion from either 9-11 p.m. most nights or 10 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. The late night usually features name headliners in the local Hawaiian music scene.

One last thing. Tiki’s is trying to become a leader in helping the community.
They recently won the Hawaii Restaurant Neighbor Award and became a finalist for the national restaurant neighbor award. Even before they opened, Tiki’s was out there being neighborly.

The partners asked applicants to volunteer to help clean the USS Missouri even before the restaurant opened a few months ago. Their grand opening benefited three charities. They’ve been involved in Waikiki’s Brunch on the beach and Sunset on the beach. They’ve done the hotel visitor industry walk, the Blood Bank and the Christmas toy drive.

Clearly, they don’t see themselves as just another hotel restaurant.

They just happen to be in a hotel since the beach at Waikiki is kinda crowded with those things. They really are a landmark, destination eatery that is drawing both locals and visitors. I recommend this.

Free validated valet parking, call (808) 923-TIKI.

Alvin Koo has been a writer and public relations practioner in Hawaii for 30 years. His book “Stuff Nobody Told Me” can be found at Amazon.com or the Golden Phoenix bookstore in Honolulu.